It is easy to become submerged in the day to day work of keeping a business going.  The continual pressure to achieve things focuses the brain on nothing else and makes stepping back to get the overall view harder.

Shortly, schools will be asking employers to provide two weeks work experience and it might be worth giving this at least two minutes thought before dismissing the idea.

If you have a member of staff they may be prepared to take a student under their wing for two weeks.  Your employee will get a bit of help and might be glad of the company.

The school will be glad of the placement and your firm will gain a brownie point for doing its bit in the community.  If it is difficult to look after the student on a particular day your local virtual office may be prepared for them to sit with the receptionists to get a good idea of providing customer service.

There is no doubt that this will need the investment of some time, and the student will need supervision to ensure their safety.  The payoff though, will be exposure to new ideas and attitudes.

Your own staff (or those of the virtual office) will develop as well.  Taking responsibility for someone is a useful skill and training someone in even simple tasks often results in questioning whether there is a better way.

A little bit of ‘feel good’ never does any harm and anything which encourages you and your staff to review the way things are done is always useful.